The Životice Tragedy

On August 4, 1944, members of the investigative group of the Těšín Gestapo were attacked by partisans from the Armia Krajowa sabotage and subversion group in Životice in the inn owned by Izydor Mokrosz. Three of the Gestapo members were killed and one of the partisans and the innkeeper were also killed. After this attack, a reprisal took place on August 6, 1944, during which the Nazis surrounded the village and murdered 36 men from Životice, Horní and Dolní Sucha and Horní Těrlicko. The bodies of the murdered men were taken to the Jewish cemetery in Orlová and buried in a mass grave. Another 31 citizens ended up in concentration camps, wherein only four of them returned after the war.